Hello All,

I bought a laptop more than 3 years ago from a retailer with a 3 year extended warranty. During the warranty the laptop was repaired 4 times for recurring faults.The warranty is now over and the laptop has failed(non-working). I send an email to the head office of the retailer and they disagreed to fix it as per SOGA - They want me to pay to get it fixed now. I bought the laptop on a credit card(HSBC).

I would like to know if someone could provide me any help on the following:

1) Is there anything specific I need to get the independent evaluator(the company which would evaluate the failure of the laptop and write the report) to check so that the judge would be able to make a decision in the small claims court. The laptop has a failed motherboard and the retailer has mentioned this in their letter - they have not mentioned any misuse on my side, as a reason for the failure - do I still need to get an independent evaluator's report?

2) If I do have a independent evalutors report - would I be able to send it along to HSBC and ask them to do a charge back as per the consumer credit act - is there any hope in me trying this option out. I cannot wait months for an outcome, so that in the end they say they cannot do anything, since I will be then delayed with the county court claim.

3) If I do land up taking the issue to court, would I be able to claim damages. Currently, I have to lug my work laptop home to replace the use of my failed laptop. I have sufferred this inconvinence quite a bit and wanted to know how I would be able to make any claims of damages.

Thanks for your help,

WRs,

Koge.

You certainly can't do a chargeback for the independent report or you will be attempting to take the money from the independent inspection company and not from the company you are having a dispute with.

You will need an independent report that says the motherboard was inherently faulty and you must pay for the report which, if in your favour, you will claim back from the laptop selling company when you put your repair claim into them.

You certainly can't do a chargeback for the independent report or you will be attempting to take the money from the independent inspection company and not from the company you are having a dispute with.

 

You will need an independent report that says the motherboard was inherently faulty and you must pay for the report which, if in your favour, you will claim back from the laptop selling company when you put your repair claim into them.

Hello,

Thanks for the response. I have no plans to do a chargeback on the company inspecting the laptop. My question was: if I do get the independent report which states that the motherboard was of bad quality and did have an inherent fault when purchased - can I send this report to HSBC . Since the independent report would say the laptop had an issue/fault with it from the time of purchase, would HSBC be willing to charge back the money I paid for the laptop on the grounds of the consumer credit act.

Thanks,

WRs,

Koge.

nope

chargeback is 120days max.

if you do get the ind rpt and its says that

you'll get a new lappy FOC from the manu. via the retailer

dx

Hi ,

Thanks for the reply. I am not sure I understand the consumer credit act, because from what I understand , HSBC(The credit arranger) is equally and severely liable for quality of goods as much as the retailer.

When I called consumer direct, they said HSBC is equally involved as the retailer, I am unsure what HSBC would do if I did inform them that the laptop I bought with the credit card was faulty from the time of purchase.

Thanks for all the replies...

Cheers,

Koge

Hi ,

 

Thanks for the reply. I am not sure I understand the consumer credit act, because from what I understand , HSBC(The credit arranger) is equally and severely liable for quality of goods as much as the retailer.

 

When I called consumer direct, they said HSBC is equally involved as the retailer, I am unsure what HSBC would do if I did inform them that the laptop I bought with the credit card was faulty from the time of purchase.

 

Thanks for all the replies...

Cheers,

Koge

The chargeback needs to be done within 120 day of you becoming aware. In the case of a shop purchase, that is assumed as being the day you made the purchase. Also, you were aware of the problems the first time it went in for repair.

Even if you could do a chargeback, you will never get the price you paid, it will be reduce by the time you have had 'enjoyment' of it. After 3 years, that wouldn't leave you enough for a pint of beer.

Your best bet is continue down the trail of repair citing continual need of repair.

hi,

Thanks for the response. I have decided to proceed the county court route. I am yet to go to the independent party for verification - I expect them to write that the motherboard has failed due to a manufacturing defect in the motherboard which causes it to overheat , which finally caused it to fail. I can only explain how the motherboard failed, since both ways they cannot test the motherboard again for what caused it to fail (since it is not working anymore).

Also, I would like to know would I be able to claim for damages , due to the inconvience not having the laptop has caused me.

Thanks,

Koge

Hello Today,

I successfully sued Comet for £940, £640 for the laptop and missold extended warraty, and interest and court charges.

hey well done.

i'll mark this won....

dx

it would help if you outlined a bit of how you did this for future members

i have also moved it to the COMET forum for a better audience!

dx

Hello Today,

I successfully sued Comet for £940, £640 for the laptop and missold extended warraty, and interest and court charges.

That really is wonderful news. I only wish more would take this route when they are on the end of the continual denial of these companies.

It would be nice if you could do as dx has asked and put up some more details.

Hello All,

I will outline in short the exact occurrences and what information helped when.

April 2008 - I buy a laptop from Comet for 500£ on Credit Card, and agree to purchase an extended warranty agreement for 2 years for 119.99£. Now at the point of sale, I signed a document for the extended warranty. I was informed by the salesperson that it was an immediate "replacement" warranty - likes of which currys' , tesco et al do actually have. I was told that this warranty would supersede the laptop manufacturers warranty(in the first year) - so that it can be replaced immediately!. The best part is that the terms and conditions of the warranty document say nothing about replacement/repair - just about my right to refund for the warranty itself

1st week of May 2008 - The laptop starts overheating and the fan becomes noisy. I inform the storge manager who asks for a 50£ restocking charge - I disagree and he reassures me the replacement warranty will take care of any issues.

december 2008 - laptop starts switching off intermittently, when overheated. Comet send the laptop to the manufacturer for repair(against the cotract of replacement by Comet). Again, for 120£ , the laptop should have been repaired by Comet. Got laptop back on January 2009. Never did the switching off issue get resolved fully - But since it was working on minimum use( used for voice chats and not watching movies) I did not give it back

April 2009 - Laptop develops problem even worse and is send to comet repair center. Again not much use , but I learnt how to live with the issue.

April 2010 - Extended warranty worth 120£ expires!

May 2010 - Laptop Dies!

June 2010 - I write a letter(email only) to CEO of COmet .Comet after a lot of commotion ask for 127 £ to repair the laptop, not even considering that the extended warranty had just expired , or thinking of the fact that the 2 months the laptop spend with Comet would be good enough to cover me from April 2010 to May 2010. They responded ( by post) stating that they are aware of the SOGA and that since I have had some use of it 127£ was a fair amount. Also they agreed that the laptop was fixed twice - but note this never did they write in that response that the issue was resolved

August 2010 - Letter before action send. 127£ reduced to 70£ - I still reject, since warranty is only for 3 months on that work . Anyways it was not about money anymore I guess, more a matter of principle.

Today - The judge takes Comet to task asking "what warranty is this?" and "where does it say it is a repair only warranty?" - Comet had no answer. When asked why they did not accept my rejection of the goods as per the EU directive( that the laptop was not fit for use and when I had complained about it in the first week of purchase) - Comet said a lot of customers give back goods and as such they found it right to ask for 50£ for restocking! The judge asked why Comet did not see to my statements of the 1999/EC directive - Comet had no answer.

The Judge ruled in my favour.

The subject heading could do with changing, naming Comet and to reflect that Comet have lost in court so that it can be picked up by the search engines.

You've already done it, wake up Conniff.

it has already

dx

Congrats on the resolution to this

I do have one question which I will try and ask without sound like I am hijacking the thread!

On what grounds did you sue? Afterall, the warranty had expired...

Was it on the fact that it should not have died in the 2-3 years? Or that it died despite the repair and that the fault was related to the original fault?

Only reason I ask is I was in a similar situation with a 50" plasma bought from Comet 3 years ago. In the 3 years of it's life, the power board went and got replaced, main board went and got it replaced and then most recently, it took a tumble in which the screen got replaced. All this was under the 3 year extended warranty (both accidental and mechanical).

Soon as the warranty ended, the power board went again. Now the TV despite it's age was hardly used especially since the first power-board replacement.

I didn't think anything of it and went ahead and bought a 55" LED 3D TV - and while waiting for it, I got the board fixed for £80 where it was clear the board was previously repaired (and not replaced).

My feeling now is after reading this thread, I too could have had grounds to get this done for free or had a resolution like the op?

Yikes! didn't realise the last post here was in Jan!

Well done - shame you had to take these shysters to court...